Page 173 of Claimed By the Maharaja
Bharat didn’t slow down. “Somewhere secure,” he said.
The tunnel curved sharply and opened through a heavy steel door into a control room. Banks of monitors lined the walls. A single chair was bolted to the floor. A large schematic of the factory glowed under emergency power.
Bharat crossed to the monitors in three strides, and his fingers moved across the keyboard with practiced speed. The screens came to life with security footage from the factory floor above.
Workers were overturning conveyor belts. Flames were at the base of Line 3. Security teams were advancing from outside.
“You have cameras everywhere,” Yamini said.
“Yes.”
She looked at the footage. The workers on the screens didn't move like agitated employees. They moved with cold, deliberate purpose.
“Why are they destroying it?” she said. “The workers I've spoken to in your factories—they genuinely like working here.”
Bharat tapped a frozen frame on the nearest screen—a man breaking into Line 3's control panel. His face was blank, focused, and not angry.
“These are not my workers,” Bharat said. “They were planted.”
She stared at the screen.
“Someone is funding this,” she said. “The protests and the sabotage.”
He didn't respond. He pulled out his phone.
“Containment protocol,” he said into it. “Line 3 sabotage confirmed. Secure perimeter. Detain all non-verified personnel.”
His eyes stayed on the screens while he spoke.
Beneath the surface of his composure, she could feel the controlled fury of a man watching his territory be attacked. He didn't look like a businessman in that moment.
He ended the call.
Silence settled into the control room.
He turned to her.
“Stay here,” he said. “This place is completely secure.”
“Where are you going?”
“Line 3.”
“Bharat—”
“Stay.”
He was already moving before she could argue further.
Yamini’s heart thudded. The heavy steel door locked behind her.
And then barely a few minutes later, she saw him on the screens.
He walked onto the factory floor with a calmness as though there wasn’t any active violence taking place.
Three men were tearing into a control panel with crowbars. A fourth had a worker pinned against a support beam, fist raised.
Bharat didn't shout a warning.
